Software Development Laptop

The Asgard · 18 Dec 2013 at 16:15

Can anyone recommend a good laptop for Visual Studio software development?

Currently using the computer in the sig below but will be moving into an office. I'm hoping I can get something with a decent build performance?

Fast CPU, SSD, reasonable keyboard. 8GB expandable to 16GB for VM use.... Quiet and well built

XPS 15 looks good? MBP? Alienware?

Any recommendations?

mk17 · 19 Dec 2013 at 09:22

I've been looking at these - also for software development.

My main machine is a [email protected] with 32GB Ram and total of 1.5TB by way of SSDs. So I want a good performer, the OCUK machines are highly configurable, I'm even considering dual GPU to help to support some C++ AMP modules

A lot depends on your budget, and personal preferences, the MSI and Gigabyte (Rev 2.0) machines are also very popular.

The Asgard · 19 Dec 2013 at 16:09

mk17 said:
I've been looking at these - also for software development.

My main machine is a [email protected] with 32GB Ram and total of 1.5TB by way of SSDs. So I want a good performer, the OCUK machines are highly configurable, I'm even considering dual GPU to help to support some C++ AMP modules

A lot depends on your budget, and personal preferences, the MSI and Gigabyte (Rev 2.0) machines are also very popular.

I think I'm going to end up getting a 15" MBP retina, its got the specs and VS developers seem to rate it.

I looked at the OcUK machine and it looks good, just not sure about the build quality.

FredFlint · 20 Dec 2013 at 10:35

I use a m18x R1 and its been very good. I think I will get a m17 next.

The Asgard · 20 Dec 2013 at 22:15

FredFlint said:
I use a m18x R1 and its been very good. I think I will get a m17 next.

That was my other option.

JonJ678 · 21 Dec 2013 at 01:04

I'm writing code on the 13" retina macbook pro. All good so far, though virtualbox performance was woeful. I'll dual boot windows at some point.

Mostly it acts as a terminal though - three or four windows each containing an ssh link to a more powerful computer somewhere else. Battery life is absurd when it's only running emacs over ssh. I've compiled code locally and it runs fine, just rather more slowly than on the dual socket boxes.

ChrissyT88 · 21 Dec 2013 at 16:15

JonJ678 said:
...though virtualbox performance was woeful.

How woeful is woeful? I'm in a similar position to the OP, looking for a laptop that will run 1 or 2 VMs without grinding to a halt!

The Asgard · 24 Dec 2013 at 17:08

JonJ678 said:
I'm writing code on the 13" retina macbook pro. All good so far, though virtualbox performance was woeful. I'll dual boot windows at some point.

Mostly it acts as a terminal though - three or four windows each containing an ssh link to a more powerful computer somewhere else. Battery life is absurd when it's only running emacs over ssh. I've compiled code locally and it runs fine, just rather more slowly than on the dual socket boxes.

I was looking at the 15" quad. Have you tried parallels?

To be honest I wouldn't mind boot camping. I would be just buying it for the hardware.

JonJ678 · 13 Jan 2014 at 08:11

Woeful is essentially unusable. It pinned cpu usage at 100% with inevitable effects on battery life. Struggled with notepad (delay of a few seconds when clicking within the window before a cursor appeared, significant lag when typing). It feels like remote desktop over 56k.

As of yesterday I'm trying parallels. Text editors work faster than I can again. Matlab's ide is fluid and responsive. Code compiles roughly as fast as it does natively. There's a seamless integration feature which looks suspiciously like it works correctly - if I click on internet explorer in the osx dock it starts the vm then opens internet explorer in a window, optionally full screen.

I bought the mac mostly for the screen, planning on installing arch on the bare metal. I doubt I'll bother though, it looks like parallels will run a linux vm headless and the local terminal is bash anyway. Quite taken with parallels.

meandu229 · 13 Jan 2014 at 08:18

I have the dell m4700 for my software development. can get it pretty high spec'd I got 16gb i7 ssd etc also with docking station can run 4 monitors with NVIDIA version (5 with AMD I think) which is great.

The Asgard · 19 Jan 2014 at 12:50

meandu229 said:
I have the dell m4700 for my software development. can get it pretty high spec'd I got 16gb i7 ssd etc also with docking station can run 4 monitors with NVIDIA version (5 with AMD I think) which is great.

Ended up getting the M4800 in the end and I must say its great. A true desktop replacement!

A tad heavy but very well built, extremely pleased with my purchase.

POB · 19 Jan 2014 at 14:12

Bootcamp is not great. I think Apple still have not managed to switch between a dedicated GPU and the CPU one. So battery life suffers.

I've ordered a XPS 15 for the same sort of usage. I would have order the MBP but Apples Windows support is iffy.